Dr. Srabani Basu makes the study of light simple through this fictional story of Dr. Amit Sengupta.
Dr. Amit Sengupta stood on the edge of the shore, the salty breeze brushing against his face. He is an established quantum physicist now, known for his groundbreaking research in the realm of subatomic particles, but at this moment, his mind was far away from the complexities of quantum mechanics. It was dusk, and the sun was sinking low on the horizon, casting golden rays across the undulating waves. The sea shimmered like a canvas of liquid gold, each wave catching the light in a dance as timeless as the universe itself.
As he watched the light play on the surface of the water, memories from a long-forgotten time stirred within him. It was as though the rays themselves were tugging at the threads of his past, leading him back to his childhood, when the mysteries of light had seemed so elusive.
He was ten years old, sitting at the kitchen table with his head in his hands, staring at the incomprehensible pages of his physics textbook. His mother, Abha, a storyteller whose tales could make even the stars seem like old friends, had found him in despair.
“What’s wrong, Amit?” she had asked, her voice soft and soothing.
“I don’t get it, Ma,” he had said, frustration heavy in his tone. “Light. It’s in waves, but it’s also in particles? How can it be both? And how can it bend, split, and… I just don’t understand!”
Abha had smiled, that warm smile of hers that held entire worlds within it. She sat beside him, her hand gently stroking his back. “Ah, light. A tricky one, isn’t it? But maybe you’re just not thinking about it in the right way. What if I told you a story?”
And so, she had begun, weaving the magical tale that made everything clear to him, just as the sunlight made the sea glimmer now.
“Once upon a time, in a kingdom not so far away, there was a mysterious traveller named Liora, a being made entirely of light. Liora was unlike any other creature in the world. Sometimes, she would stretch out wide and long, moving gracefully like a wave upon the sea, soft and fluid. At other times, she would shrink into the tiniest, most precise points, darting through the air like a curious child exploring the corners of the world.
The kingdom in which Liora lived was ruled by the wise Queen Nature, who loved to set puzzles and challenges to her subjects, especially Liora, because she knew that light was special—both a wave and a particle, capable of bending, splitting, and revealing the hidden secrets of the universe.
One day, Queen Nature summoned Liora to her court. “I have a task for you, my luminous friend. I need you to journey to three distant lands and show the people there the true magic of light.”
Liora, ever curious and ready for adventure, bowed deeply and set off immediately.
The first land Liora visited was the Kingdom of Waves, a place where everything, from the mountains to the rivers, moved in rhythmic patterns. The people of this land were fascinated by ripples and tides, and they loved to watch how energy flowed in waves. Liora, being a creature of light, joined in their dances, stretching out into long, graceful waves. The people marvelled as Liora moved through water and air, bending and refracting, like sunlight streaming through a glass of water, creating rainbows that dazzled the eye.
“See?” Liora said to the people, “I am like you, always flowing, always in motion, bending with the world around me.”
But that wasn’t all Liora could do. The journey wasn’t over yet.
Liora then travelled to the City of Particles, where everything was built from tiny, precise pieces—particles so small they could barely be seen. The people here measured and counted everything, and they believed that the world was made up only of these minuscule particles.
“I’m more than just a wave,” Liora said as they transformed. In an instant, Liora split into countless particles of light—each a photon, zipping through the air, bouncing off mirrors, and hitting surfaces with pinpoint accuracy. The people of the City of Particles gasped in wonder as they watched Liora’s particles light up their world in tiny, perfect bursts.
“But wait,” said one of the wise elders of the city, “how can you be both a wave and a particle? That doesn’t make sense.”
Liora smiled. “I am both. I exist in many ways, depending on how you observe me. That is the magic of light.”
Finally, Liora visited the Forest of Shadows, a dark, mysterious place where light and dark wove together in intricate patterns. Here, Liora played with the shadows, bending around the trees, casting long shadows, and splitting into beautiful beams of colour through the droplets of morning dew. The forest creatures whispered, amazed at how Liora could illuminate even the deepest corners of the forest, showing that where there was light, there could be no darkness.
In this land, Liora showed how light could bend, diffract, and create rainbows through the tiniest of prisms, much like how sunlight refracted in a crystal or through the mist of the sea. Here, Liora revealed the secret of refraction and diffraction, bending around obstacles and splitting into myriad colors, like the sunset or the light on a seashell’s curve.
“And so, my dear son,” his mother had said, finishing her story, “light is both a wave and a particle. It bends and splits, travels through space and time, showing us the colors of the world, illuminating the darkest places. But most importantly, light can teach us that sometimes, things are not just one thing or another—they can be many things, all at once.”
Young Amit had been mesmerized, the confusion in his mind lifting like the morning fog. The chapter on light had ceased to be a source of frustration. Instead, it had become a source of fascination, thanks to his mother’s tale.
Now, years later, standing on the beach, Amit could almost hear his mother’s voice carried on the wind, as though the light itself was whispering her words back to him. The rays danced on the waves, bending and splitting, just as they had in her story, and for a moment, time seemed to fold in on itself.
In the dance of light on the sea, Amit saw Liora once again, gliding between worlds, a wave and a particle, lighting up the universe. And in that moment, he was a child again, sitting at the kitchen table, listening to his mother’s stories, feeling the magic of light and love woven together in the simplest, most beautiful way.
Though she was light years away from him, her stories remained, carried on the light that danced across the waves.
And as he watched the sunset, Amit smiled, the mysteries of light now clear as day, not because of the physics he had mastered, but because of the love and wisdom his mother had shared with him long ago.
Dr. Srabani Basu, an interdisciplinary scholar and corporate trainer with 30 years of experience, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Literature and Languages, SRM University AP. With a PhD in English, specializing in William Blake, and an MS in Psychoanalysis, her research bridges literature, psychoanalysis, and mythology. Known for her expertise in storytelling, she combines ancient myths with management principles in her training. A certified NLP practitioner and career coach, she has trained professionals across industries, inspiring creativity and growth. Her diverse research interests include Behavior Analytics, Metaphor Therapy, and the Science behind Mythology, reflecting her passion for narrative. She strongly believes that, where ancient stories meet modern minds, transformation begins.
